For purposes of clarity, the term “conventional engine” as used in the present application refers to an internal combustion engine wherein all four strokes of the well known Otto cycle (i.e., the intake, compression, expansion and exhaust strokes) are contained in each piston/cylinder combination of the engine. The term split-cycle engine as used in the present application may not have yet received a fixed meaning commonly known to those skilled in the engine art. Accordingly, for purposes of clarity, the following definition is offered for the term “split-cycle engine” as may be applied to engines disclosed in the prior art and as referred to in the present application.
A split-cycle engine as referred to herein comprises:
a crankshaft rotatable about a crankshaft axis;
a compression piston slidably received within a compression cylinder and operatively connected to the crankshaft such that the compression piston reciprocates through an intake stroke and a compression stroke during a single rotation of the crankshaft;
an expansion (power) piston slidably received within an expansion cylinder and operatively connected to the crankshaft such that the expansion piston reciprocates through an expansion stroke and an exhaust stroke during a single rotation of the crankshaft; and
a crossover passage interconnecting the expansion and compression cylinders, the crossover passage including a crossover compression (XovrC) valve and a crossover expansion (XovrE) valve defining a pressure chamber therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,225 granted Apr. 8, 2003 to Carmelo J. Scuderi (herein the Scuderi patent) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/157,460 filed Jun. 11, 2008 to Ford A. Phillips (herein the Phillips application) contains an extensive discussion of split-cycle and similar type engines. In addition the Scuderi patent and the Phillips application disclose details of prior versions of split-cycle engines of which the present invention comprises a further development. Both the Scuderi patent and the Philips application are incorporated herein in their entirety.